SB Mountain SAR Passes Rope Rescue Evaluation

Congratulations to the SB Mountain SAR Team for successfully passing their rope rescue evaluation. The team successfully raised an injured hiker approximately 200 feet up an embankment in Cucamonga Canyon under the close watch of the Rope Rescue Oversight Committee (RROC).

News From The Rope Rescue Oversight Committee

The Rope Rescue Oversight Committee (RROC) is comprised of two members from each technical rope rescue certified team in San Bernardino County. This committee is responsible for setting rope rescue guidelines in the county as well as conducting team certifications. Recently a few changes have been made to the guidelines and to the team certification procedure.

There are two additional individual rope certifications: Basic Rigging Specialist and Intermediate Rigging Specialist. These certifications are identical to the Basic Rope Technician and Intermediate Rope Technician certifications except that they require a modified Personal Vertical Skills (PVS) check-off. The "specialist" categories do not require the ascending/descending portions of the PVS check-off. Details of these categories can be found in Rope Rescue and the Wilderness SAR Card.

All "basic" rope certifications and PVS are valid for 3 years. All "intermediate" rope certifications are valid for 4 years.

All rope-certified teams are evaluated by the Rope Rescue Oversight Committee every 3 years. There is an exception for MRA, rope-certified teams, as they are evaluated every 3 years by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). As of Jan 1, 2010 the team re-certification process has changed, and is the same for all teams. Every 18 months, each rope-certified team must prepare a Periodic Performance Review. The details of this report can be found in the Rope Team Periodic Performance Review. Each rope-certified team must be re-certified every 3 years, and can choose either the RROC or the MRA as their accrediting body.

All of the documents referenced above can be found at sbsar.org/documents. Scroll down the page to the "RROC" section. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact Dan Whitten at dwhitten@sbsar.org

The International Technical Rescue Symposium (ITRS) 2009

If you are interested in broken gear, and a series of differential equations that can explain the dynamic events that lead up to the breaking of the gear, then ITRS is for you. For three days in November each year, rope rescue practicioners from around the world converge in a conference room to present, argue, and discuss the finer points of rope rescue. While much of the audience is involved in wilderness rescue, representatives from many organizations and jurisdictions fill the room.

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RIM SAR Passes Technical Rope Evaluation

Congratulations to RIM SAR, who successfully passed their rope re-certification on Sunday, October 25. To maintain rope rescue status, teams must pass a certification every two years. The certification process is comprehensive, and includes a gear check as well as a rescue scenario. Members of the Rope Rescue Oversight Committee (RROC) are the evaluators, and they look for a safe and efficient process.  RROC is composed of two members from each rope-certified team. Currently there are five rope-certified teams in San Bernardino County: The Cave & Technical Rescue Team, Rim of the World SAR, San Gorgonio SAR, West Valley SAR, and Wrightwood/Phelan SAR.